Friday, 4 February 2011

The time has come around the the 2nd installment of the Selfridges "Bright Young Things" scheme with the final designers taking residence in the store's windows. Here is a selection of the installations and some shots of the related products in the pop-up shop. All 20 labels brought together under the umbrella project have special pieces for sale which will still be set up for fashion week (also online). Any international visitors to London for the shows should most definitely make a note to schedule in a pilgrimage to this mecca of new generation goodies. If you do visit town this month, you can make direct contact with the designers too at one-off workshops hosted in the space. Here are the dates for your diary:

Launching on the 8th of March 2011, The W Project will mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. The project will open with an exhibition of work by established and emerging female talent across multiple creative disciplines with a series of additional events. The whole idea has been dreamt up by duo Teo Connor and Loren Platt. You will know Teo better as one half of "No Days Off" and Loren as one half of "Work It".......... having side-stepped their usual team to configure this new partnership. They have cherry picked 36 lady artists to participate in the group show......... complete with Safia El-Dabi's giant fruits! Activities taking place over the course of the exhibition include:The Firm Film Night with Q&A screening Stanley Pickle and Sisters In Law, Josephine Ada Chinonye Chime interactive photo session, and guest speakers including Caryn Franklin & Debra Borne from All Walks .........all ending on a night with music from Work It and Q&A with Elisha Smith-Leverock and myself on the subject of our fashion films.

Thursday, 3 February 2011

For the next few days Selfridges are celebrating their "Denim Destination" (the largest selection in Europe) with live events. I'm typing this in real time for my part in the action - live blogging from 6-8pm. Aside from the walls of denim, I'm surrounded by fellow creatives getting involved in the event. The Work It Girls are on the decks and The Urbanist - a graffiti artist who works on walls, clothes & skin (he's sprayed Snoop Dogg!) is air-brushing canvases.Sophie Stephens who is a designer from the "Bright Young Things" scheme is here illustrating on canvas bags for customers to take away some art with their denim. Here she is at work not far from her special t-shirt designs as part of the "BYT" concession also on the 3rd floor. All 20 designers have items stocked in a pop-up shop whilst the windows are resident on Oxford Street. Although her own installation came out last night, the next 10 have gone in with New Power Studio, Yang Du and Patternity amongst the crew. If that's not enough to get you East End Girls coming up West, don't forget that Supermarket Sarah has her very own concession on the ground floor with a wall of Valentine goodies..........

Last evening The V&A Museum held host to the MA graduate students from the London College of Fashion for their final show. Here Emily Beard has snapped the highlights and atmosphere to give us a glimpse of the proceedings where you can identify Grayson Perry enjoying the spectacle from the front row. To see the collections in more detail and find out who is responsible for each piece, head over to catwalking.com. All collections are now being transferred to a static exhibition open for the public to visit at Victoria House until the 9th Feb from 12:00-19:00.

At the end of last year Andrew Logan opened up a permanent shop to sell his magical mosaic accessories and sculptures. Previously Andrew held intermittent special sales for which he would mail out invitations such as this archive one of mine. Now his doors are open for anyone to pop in any time to pick up a piece of art or just see the wonder of the space designed by his architect partner Michael Davis. Thanks to Kirsty McKenzie for these photos which she took in her first week of joining the Zandra Rhodes design team......... having come all the way from Toronto!

Andrew's gallery/shop is at The Glasshouse, Melior Place, London, SE1 3SZ If you're not in the UK or indeed London, you can still purchase Andrew's priceless pieces online here.

Wednesday, 2 February 2011

Lots of bloggers, taste-makers, cool-hunters and cultural characters in the creative industry are taking part in the "Now Project" curated by Samsung to launch their new Wave II. Each of us involved have been sent the handset to experiment with using the camera and video facility. All the photos are being uploaded to a gallery on Facebook which you can see here. Ive selected some of my faves for an edited glimpse by friends and comrades including Man Like Me, Cassetteplaya, Kit Lee from Styleslicker and Shin from Park'n'Cube. Its a cute visual source to scan through for image inspiration with the added bonus of being an instant resource of blog lists to research. For instance Ive discovered fascinating links to follow up just clicking through now (3 of which Ive included). But the venture is by no means exclusive or cliquey............ anyone can get involved and upload photos to add to the "Now" theme gallery. When you contribute a photo it becomes an entry in a grander scheme of a competition to be displayed in The Design Museum. The snaps with the most "likes" will be awarded with the photographer receiving their own WaveII or chance to show in the exhibit ........... there's no limit on number of images entered so get uploading here.

Tuesday, 1 February 2011

Operating from the sartorial subversive underworld known as "blogging" Ive got to know a few of the species. Diseyrollergirl has maintained a position of anonymity to keep her content consistent, untainted and uninhibited with free flowing opinions. Ive known who she is for a few years and wondered how she has kept up the double life deceit for so long.............. until now. Navaz Batliwalla came clean and stepped out of her closet (confidential!)this weekend and finally the classified case of her identity is open. YAY! By means of the democratic communication revolution "Twitter", Navaz met the Creative Director of British Vogue Robin Derrick. Over tweets the two have conversed and organised to have a discussion in the physical world to the prying eyes and ears of the public. On Thurs evening Disneyrollergirl and Robin Derrick will host a Q&A at the Apple Store, Covent Garden. Head to the store to find out more about VOGUE's recently launched iPad app and the relationship between fashion and technology. From fashion illustration to photography, digital photography and fashion film, to web publishing and what the future might hold..............The Q&A starts at 630pm and will go on for about an hour - there is no need to book but it's probably a good idea to get there early. Read more over at Vogue.

Congrats Navaz! Cant wait to see what the future holds for you........... as the face of Disneyrollergirl! Find her on Facebook here.

Monday, 31 January 2011

Akio and Yuri are famed for their Sushi parties which involve waves of of platters of the sticky rice stuff rolling out of the kitchen as more partakers pitch up. Tasting food this good always reminds me of "Like Water For Chocolate" when food is prepared with love, it intoxicates the guests with amorous feelings. Akio's handmade Sushi is put together from the finest fish he has found in London town (Essex Road) and neatly assembled in structures according to the nuance of the particular area of Japan from where he hails. Whatever secret ingrediant is in it, its streets ahead of any Ive had in a restaurant. To top it off, their super cute cat is always in attendance to poison taste any potential flakes you may find slipping off your saucer. So integral to the proceedings now, that she features on the invitation! TOO CUTE!

Running Rainbow

Its A London Thing

My book out on September 19th

'Multi-talented Fred Butler is quite the east London renaissance girl, with fingers in so many creative pies that they're difficult to tick off.

Of course, there are the splendidly exuberant accessories, wearable sculptures whose sparkle has attracted fashion magpies such as Gaga, Bjork and Nicki Minaj. But there is also custom made prop styling, art directing and film making.